[ Art | Business | Fiction | General ]

How to Draw Anime & Game Characters: Basics for Beginners and Beyond by Tadashi Ozawa

One of the better books on making anime characters. This book is particularly nifty in that it shows the "typical" types of anime characters, how to composite a cover, and (especially good) a comparison of a "fannish" picture to a finished one. Now available in English!

The Art of Final Fantasy IX by Dan Birlew, et al.

Freya Crescent rules! ^.^ Well, that and you get to see those nifty watercolors by Y. Amano (famous for his work in Vampire Hunter D and Sandman, as well as many of the Final Fantasy titles), the character design by H. Manabi (Digimon), and stills of the CG-rendered sequences.

Atlas of the Human Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen Rodgers Peck

Some of the more popular "how to draw" books can be picked up in any old chapter, and this is one of the better ones. Included are some nice demonstrations on bones, muscle, balance, motion vs. still, body types, and differences between genders and ages. Recommended for those artists who are having trouble with a particular thing or two and are looking for pointers.

Books by Jack Hamm:
Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes
Drawing the Head & Figure
How to Draw Animals

These books by Jack Hamm are an excellent resource. Written with the beginner in mind, there's also a few tricks that a professional can pick up. Jack Hamm concentrates mostly on pencils and pen & ink, though he does discuss how to use the media to bring out texture and depth to the subject matter.

Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth

Burne Hogarth has written lots of books related to art. This one stands out as the one that has strong influenced the comics of the 1990s, such as Spawn and its ilk.

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee, et al.

In the 1960s, Marvel Comics stood out as a breath of fresh air in the moribund comics industry. This book explains some of the finer points. While obviously written with an eye towards marketing to the younger set, there are some items in here that are still useful to today's crop of artists. Most notable are its "good/bad" contrasts, showing how not to draw a page (using no perspective, stiff characterizations, etc.) and then how to draw the same scene with more dynamic action. Worth a look-see.

Peachpit Press Wow! Books:
Photoshop 5 Wow! Book
Photoshop 4 Wow! Book
Illustrator 8 Wow! Book

If you're looking to use computers, few books are better than the Wow! Series by Peachtree Press. In particular, the Photoshop Wow! Books include some invaluable advice on how to colorize by computer. If you want to know "how they do that", these books will tell you.

Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

Concise and clear, while never pretentious or dismissive, Understanding Comics is an excellent guide to what the modern form of comic, or "sequential illustration", is all about. This book includes terminology, discussions of technique, real-world issues such as production technology and commerce, and even a short treatise on "what is art". No comic illustrator's library should be without this book.

The E Myth: Why Most Small Business Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber

Learn from the mistakes of others! Before going into business for yourself, find out how others did it first. If only more self-publishers had read this book, maybe their ventures would have proved more successful. This book is mostly noteable for its discussions on the different hats a small business owner must wear, and how one has to keep at it despite setbacks.

The Mythical Man-Month : Essays on Software Engineering by Frederick P. Brooks Jr.

What's this book doing in a list of role-playing game references? RPG Design and Software Engineering have a lot in common: they're both "systems" that let folks get stuff done. Written in the 1970s (with such neat comments such as the price of renting memory at "$40 per megabyte, although this is expected to go down"), it is still very timely today with its frank discussions of time management and how some things simply won't be done right the first time.

Tales of the Dying Earth, by Jack Vance

The Lyonesse Trilogy, by Jack Vance:
Suldrun's Garden
The Green Pearl
Madouc

Jack Vance is nonpareil among fantasy authors; his worlds are richly detailed and his characters stay true to form. All of his stories are filled with opportunists and scoundrels of the highest order, larger-than-life heroes who never surrender in adversity, and diabolic plots and atrocities that other books about "evil" fail to broach. The "Lyonesse" Trilogy stands apart as a series that moves from fairy-tale fantasy to political intrigue to historical drama and then back to another theme, all seamlessly. All titles by Jack Vance are highly recommended.

The Black Company by Glen Cook

When it comes to books about "the lesser of two evils", few can match Glen Cook for fantasy where the main characters are just deep in it and snorkeling. "The Black Company" follows the exploits of a mercenary company employed by the 2nd Most Evil Being in the World, known only as "The Lady", as she fights the 1st Most Evil Being in the World, "the Dominator." (Later in the series, the Company solicits the help from a being that may or may not be involved with something even MORE evil, but .. well, read the books. ^.^ )

The Tower of Fear by Glen Cook

"The Tower of Fear" is about a faux-Roman Empire that has dominated a faux-Muslim country that is fighting to find out what *really* happened to their most powerful wizard... who probably isn't dead after all. Very "gamer-oriented" and a good read for those who want to see how to run a political intrigue campaign.

Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock has written more than one book about a decadent empire of effete sybarites in decline, but this book stands out with most readers, especially the goth set. The title character, Elric, is a sickly albino at the end of thousands of generations of a noble house, the product of forbidden worship and centuries of inbreeding. His stories are about greed, madness, betrayal, and other unsavoriness. Most power-gamers prefer to focus on Elric's phenomenal spell-casting abilities and his soul-sucking, god-slaying sword "Stormbringer". Most gothophiles prefer to focus on how, despite all of Elric's power, he is still depressed and lonely. I recommend this series because there's a bit more to it than these two things.

The Urth of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe:

Shadow & Claw: The First Half of the Book of the New Sun — The Shadow of the Torturer/the Claw of the Conciliator
Sword & Citadel: The Second Half of the Book of the New Sun — The Sword of the Lictor and the Citadel of the Autarch
The Urth of the New Sun

Admittedly not for everyone, Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series stands apart as an inventive fantasy that's very strange yet very real at the same time. I'm not sure why they call the first two books "halves", since the the last book, "Urth of the New Sun", wraps up a lot of the threads sown in earlier books, but then again I'm an RPG designer, not a book publisher. Read these to see why we include "Torturer" as one of our Ironclaw Careers.

The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas

This is one of those books that more people should've read, but haven't. Alexander Dumas tells a wonderful tale of the proud and overconfident who win the day through clever improvisation and derring-do. This is an excellent book to show folks that there's more an action-adventure fantasy than just dwarves, elves, and prophecy. Of particular importance is the political schism between the King's Musketeers and the Cardinal's Guard -- folks who hate each other but can't act in open defiance of the law. A major inspiration of Ironclaw authors.

The Spellsinger series by Alan Dean Foster:
Spellsinger
Spellsinger Book 2: The Hour at the Gate
Spellsinger Book 4: The Moment of the Magician

One of the more popular "furry novels", Spellsinger stands out as a fantasy capitalizing on what anthropomorphism has to offer, as well as a few other nice touches. This series went on and on, with books varying in quality (including a strange artifact featuring M.C. Hammer's rap music), yet a few stand out. I've selected the first two books here, which follows our hero Jon-Tom as he explores a strange world filled with humans, anthropormorphs, dragons, and supernatural creatures, as well as my personal favorite, The Moment of the Magician, which features some nifty bits and (in my opinion, under-developed but still cool) political intrigue around what happens when an otherworldly wizard shows up who doesn't have to go on a world-saving quest.

The Redwall series by Brian Jacques
Redwall
Martin the Warrior
Salamandastron

Brian Jacques' all-ages fantasy about anthropomorphic warriors has been around for quite a while now, spawning over a dozen books. Dependent mostly on warfare and less on other traditional fantasy fare, the early books are self-contained and describe a world filled with slavers, overlords, bandits, and a few heroes. Completists may want to get all the books, but the ones here are the ones I recommend -- Martin the Warrior earning the highest accolades.

Systemantics: The Underground Text of Systems Lore by John Gall

I read this book many years ago, before I even started role-playing. A "system" is a method of doing things or employing things, and the author cites what happens when a system becomes popular. People try to "optimize" it; folks show up with a vested interest in perpetuating the system. This book not only applies to business in general, and role-playing game systems in particular, but it also has application for other "systems" such as law, and politics. Our Ironclaw game, after all, concerns a society in a state of change from good ol' medievalism to a modern Renaissance -- and there are lords and ladies with a vested interest in keeping the "system" that has already served them well for hundreds of years...

General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications by Ludwig von Bertalanfy

By Ludwig von Bertalanfy, this book is the seminal work on systems theory. It essentially details the first ideas about systems and how they are autopoietic. (That's a 3-dollar word for "self-regulating.") Things out of balance do not long stay that way for very good reasons. Originally written as a work on biology, it has many applications to the realm of history, sociology and economics.

Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an Appalachian Valley by John Gaventa

How does A get B to do what A wants? Mr. Gaventa details political structure from a very realpolitik view and leaves no one unbruised. He covers the basics of power relationships and their structures.

The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri

Characterization is fully explored in this magnificent book on how to show the reader what you mean rather than tell them. Mr. Egri firmly believes that if you understand your characters motivation, they will write your play for you.

Books by Robert Axelrod:
The Evolution of Cooperation
The Complexity of Cooperation

Dr. Axelrod is a game theorist at University of Michigan. He specialized in decision-modeling and how people and groups come to consensus. He was one of the first to use computers in modeling interactions. From office relations to cold-war politics -- if you want to understand them, get this book.

The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon, et al.

One of the best "naming books" out on the market for historical and medieval settings in particular. The names are grouped by origin first, with an alphabetical index in the back. Also included is a brief essay on character-naming theory. (As a side note, I was amused to find a review on Amazon.com by someone who was disappointed in the book, declaring it "definitely for the specialty writer [RPG players and writers of romance novels].")

Books by Bill Whitcomb:
The Magician's Companion: A Practical and Encyclopedic Guide to Magical and Religious Symbolism
The Magician's Reflection: A Complete Guide to Creating Magical Symbols & Systems

These two books by Bill Whitcomb are highly recommended for their discourse on "magic" and folklore. The Companion presents several "magical models" from history, from the more commonly known ones of "elementalism" and Tarot to increasingly obscure ones such as Enochian, Kaballah, and chakras, plus essays on what makes magic "tick". (Of particular note to some gamers is that the most relevant parts from Isaac Bonewits' Authentic Thaumaturgy are within this volume, sans the obtuse and dated 1979 gaming references.). The Reflection is more of an encyclopedia of meanings and items common throughout magic, such as the meanings commonly applied to plants, clothes, color, people, etc., with guidelines on how to make a "magic system" that you have a personal affinity for. Both books are highly recommended for those who want to make magic seem more "real" through a greater understanding of what makes "magic" in people's minds. These two volumes are indispensible for magic fans.

A History of Architechture: Settings and Rituals by Spiro Kostof, et al.

No mere survey of famous buildings, History examines a surprisingly wide variety of manmade structures: prehistoric huts and the TVA, the pyramids at Giza and the 19th century railway station, the ziggurat and the department store. Some nice color photos and some very well-rendered maps.